Product Overview

Following the worldwide success of their third consecutive Number One album, Perfect Symmetry, Keane is back with an all new album, Night Train. Featuring eight powerful new tracks which were written and recorded during the Perfect Symmetry world tour that saw the band playing to packed arenas in 28 countries, from Australia to Norway, Colombia to South Korea and Lebanon to Switzerland. The EP takes its title from the band's favoured mode of transport during the tour.

The EP includes Keane's genre-busting collaborations with Somali/Canadian rapper K'Naan, 'Stop For A Minute' and 'Looking Back'. "I think those tracks show us in a completely different light," says Keane frontman Tom Chaplin.

Other definite highlights include 'Ishin Denshin (You've Got To Help Yourself)', which features Japanese MC Tigarah, as well as the gorgeous 'Your Love', which hangs around a rare lead vocal from the band's Ivor Novello-winning songwriter Tim Rice-Oxley.

You've gotta give it to Keane -- the guys aren't afraid to reinvent themselves, even if it means decreased record sales. After being typecast as ballad-loving, tender-hearted crooners with their 2004 debut, they spent the following four years dismantling the myth that they were the next Coldplay. Released in 2006, Under the Iron Sea found them skewering Tony Blair's politics and disguising Tim Rice-Oxley's keyboard with guitar pedals, while 2008's Perfect Symmetry highlighted their goofy side, not to mention a love for cheesy `80s pop. Night Train takes most of its cues from that last album, but it also ventures into newer territory, featuring an ambient instrumental opening track as well as contributions from two R&B musicians (Somali hip-hop artist K'Naan and Japanese singer Tigarah). K'Naan's presence isn't limited to a mere cameo; he appears on two songs and actively steers both, turning "Looking Back" into a pop/funk/soft rock hybrid and bringing a sense Timberlake-ish digital pop to "Stop for a Minute." When left to their own devices, Keane continue exploring the sounds that Perfect Symmetry introduced, often paying as much attention to the songs' production as the actual tunes themselves. It's all very eclectic and a bit unexpected, two qualities that seem to be Keane's modus operandi as of late, although Tom Chaplin's vocals still pack the biggest punch. ~ Andrew Leahey

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.71) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[They] join forces with K'Naan on 'Stop for a Minute,' where the Canadian MC rhymes while Tom Chaplin belts out one of the band's patented big, cresting choruses."

Artist Bio

KeaneThe three members of Keane - Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley and Richard Hughes - began making music together as teenagers in sleepy East Sussex. But it was only after years of energy-sapping dead ends that things started to go right for them. After a chance gig sighting in 2003, Fierce Panda founder Simon Williams offered the band a limited edition single release. That quickly led to a deal with Island Records, which led to Hopes And Fears, Keane's brilliant 2004 debut album. Driven by literate, heart-tugging anthems like "Somewhere Only We Know", "Everybody's Changing" and "Bedshaped", the record catapulted Keane to global success, selling almost six million copies and picking up countless awards (indeed, even in 2010 it has been nominated for the Best British Album of 30 Years award at the Brits).In 2006, Keane released their second album, Under The Iron Sea. Compared to their debut, it was a dark, brooding affair, powered by the hurt and frustration of a band stretched to breaking point by two years of constant touring. But, once again, at its core were Tim Rice-Oxley's majestic melodies and Tom Chaplin's rich, powerful voice. The incredible response to the record at the band's increasingly large live shows was, ultimately, to reinvigorate the friendships they've shared since primary school.Keane's third album, Perfect Symmetry, followed in 2008, once again marking a genuinely impressive stylistic shift. Recorded in Berlin, Paris and London it was the first Keane album to feature musical saw, saxophone and vocals recorded through a drum. In other words, it was the sound of a band positively revelling in the joys of making music again. Its lead single, "Spiralling", was a bouncing, Bowie-tinged, synth-pop belter, which won the Q Award for Best Track of the Year before the album itself was even released (once it was, Q's readers soon voted that Album of the Year too.)The band toured Perfect Symmetry around the world, playing to packed arenas in 28 countries, from Russia to Australia, Colombia to South Korea and Lebanon to Switzerland. When they had gaps in their schedule, they would head into studios to work on tracks - not with any particular purpose in mind, just because it's what they enjoy doing most. "It's incredibly refreshing in the middle of a long tour to go into a studio and create something," says Tim Rice-Oxley. "It's what we ended up doing on most of our days off."Those tracks would eventually come to form a new eight track EP titled Night Train. Taking its title from the band's favoured mode of transport during the tour (the Moscow to St Petersburg train was particularly memorable), it demonstrates yet another sure-footed sonic swerve. Highlights include Keane's two genre-busting collaborations with fast-rising Somali/Canadian rapper K'Naan, who they met through a mutual appreciation (Keane are surprisingly popular in hip hop circles, with Kanye West another big fan). Over three days in a London studio, Keane and K'Naan created the irrepressible "Stop For A Minute" and the Rocky-inspired "Looking Back". "I think those tracks show us in a completely different light," says Chaplin.